Husky the Titan Pilot
by T3hHusky1337
Summary: A story about a possibly insane grapple pilot on the frontier. Written by Husky, edited by Snek, from Vaughny's discord.
1. Chapter 1: The Arrival

Another day on the Frontier, with the murderous, morally repugnant, and rather dull IMC versus the terroristic, planet-killing, green-obsessed Militia, duking it out across the cosmos as they've always been. Now, you may be thinking, "Gee, this story is starting to sound like every other goddamned Titanfall story, this is going to be about a grunt or pilot working for the IMC going over to the Militia, right?" Well, no, because the person this story about is a mercenary already working for the Militia, now sit back and enjoy the story or whatever.

"Well, I'd reckon that's about all the men we can muster from our own ship, what's the number now?" said Janus Mandover, a rather upbeat commander working for the Militia. He was talking to one of his aides in preparation for an upcoming operation that would require quite the bit of manpower.

"We don't exactly have very many grunts with us, however. We can make up for those missing numbers with spectres, since we got loads of 'em," the aide responded. "However, we are down two pilots, and thus we're also down two titans."

"Ah, I see," Commander Mandover replied, his hand going over his chin in a contemplative manner. "I guess that means we'll have to hire some mercenaries." He turned to one of his other aides. "Go see what you can find in our contacts list; we're going to need some very experienced pilots."

"Anybody in particular, sir?" asked the aide.

"As long as they can handle a titan by themselves, that's fine by me. You're experienced enough, go see what you can dig up." With that parting statement, Mandover turned around and whipped out a notebook of his and started writing. Whether or not it was a notebook or a personal journal was anybody's guess. The aide took off towards the communications room aboard the ship.

Surprisingly—and much to the commander's delight—only one day had passed and a ship was already on its way with all they requested, their mercenary pilots obviously with them. The mercenaries involved were all very serious and very well composed, all polishing their titans and bragging about what their titan can do better than the other's. However, there was one pilot that was clumsy, and who acted as if war was a video game. His name was Reginald Mikelson, but his mercenary buddies usually called him "Husky" due to his overwhelming appreciation for the dog breed.

"Ah, well that was surprisingly quick; you really did a good job of contacting these mercs, Ava." Mandover said to the aide.

"Thank you sir, it was very easy considering they seem to be a company of mercs," Ava responded. "When I was talking to them, they asked if you would like to greet their leader in person. Would you, sir?"

"I, uh, I guess?" Mandover was confused, as it was something previous mercenaries had never even thought about. They just wanted to get paid, do their job, and then leave without a second thought. This was a completely foreign occurrence to Mandover. "When do we meet, exactly?"

"They didn't exactly request a specific time; would you like me to request them now, sir?" Ava said.

"Yeah, sure, that'll work." The commander said, which prompted the aide to set up a gathering time for both of them to meet. "Something isn't right," Mandover mused to himself, but these musings were just him being worried when he saw the Mercenary leader peacefully sitting down with the two requested pilots standing behind him. They exchanged their greetings over a pot of coffee, which the mercenaries generously provided. Husky—who was one of the pilots—was busy gazing around in awe at titans the MCOR utilized.

"Wow, those are some pretty nice titans there!" He noted, "So we're gonna be fighting with these guys? Quite a bit of Ion types, guess I got to show off a little bit, eh commander?"

"Do what you need to do, Mikelson, just don't get us almost shot at like you did the last time," the Merc leader responded.

"Wait, hold on just a second, what do you mean by what he did 'the last time?'" Mandover asked.

"Simply put, he was too caught up with looking around the ship the last company we worked for owned and ended up launching a couple of their own titans into the vacuum of space. He's a bit of an oddball, y'know." The leader then added, "But, it'd be stupid to say that he's not one of the best, more lethal pilots under my wing. He really loves his job." As he said this, a couple of non-combative MCOR personnel had to shoo Husky away from a highly flammable ammo rack of a Scorch's thermite launcher, after they noticed him pick up one of the canisters and attempted to throw it around in his hands like a ball.

"Oh, well uh, that's fine as long as he sticks to the mission and doesn't shoot any of our men. You got the mission details, correct?" the MCOR commander asked the Merc leader, to which he responded with a nod of the head. "Alright, so we'll start soon. We're going to need the mercenaries we requested to move their gear onto our ship, where are they anyways?"

"Well, they WERE both right here behind me, but now there's only one of them. Who knows where Husky went?" The Mercenary leader said. At that moment, the hangar intercom turned on.

"Hey, uh, is this thing on?" the voice said. The mercenary leader rolled his eyes and put his palm over his face.

"Johnathan, go get Mikelson for me, will you?" Johnathan nodded, and then dashed away. "I'm so terribly sorry about this, he's usually not this interested in other ships, must be the titans."

When Johnathan discovered the whereabouts of Husky, there were a few MCOR pilots trying to pry him away from the intercom. Johnathan, being the very good friend he is, decides to just knock out Husky instead, and while the MCOR pilots at first were shocked at this, they were then relieved when he explained why he did it. He then dragged Husky's limp body back to the leader.

"Here he is, boss, anything else?" he asked, to which he got two mixed answers from both commanders. From Mandover, he got a very confused and shocked look, however from the leader he got a look of indifference. "A'ight, I'll just leave 'em here then." With that statement, Johnathan gently let down Husky's body on a nearby bench.

Thus, all the equipment from both pilots were transferred from the mercenary ship onto the MCS Spearhead. IO-1825—the official designation of Husky's Ion titan—and FJ-3387—Johnathan's Scorch titan were transferred also. The two ships bid their farewells and parted ways, with the MCOR going to their mission. Husky and Johnathan were then showed to their temporary quarters, where all their pilot gear and other necessary items were stored. Of course, since Husky was still knocked out, Johnathan carried him all the way and placed him in one of the two beds, where he then slowly woke up.

"Augh, that hurt." He said, feeling the back of his head. "Hey, Johnathan, what the hell was that for? Also, where the hell are we?"

"Ah, Husky, great to see you're awake. I had to knock you out to keep you from creeping out the MCOR folks." Johnathan responded, "Anyways, we're in our temporary quarters, I put your gear in the locker at the foot of your bed."

"Alright, thanks for that, guess I'll check my gear before going out there on the field." Husky said.

He got up from his bed and walked over to his locker, checking his equipment. He picked up his checkmate red armor and inspected it for any repairable defects, same with his weaponry: an R201 rifle, an SMR, and his trusty RE45.

"You know, I'll never understand why you carry around that SMR instead of a more suited anti-titan weapon like an Archer." Johnathan said, peering over his shoulder and checking to see if his Spitfire still functioned well.

"Because when I pair this bad boy with that amped wall you carry around, it's pretty much titan-be-gone," Husky replied, "Plus it's good for killing pilots too. I mean, have you seen a pilot try to survive a few micro-missiles? 'Cause I haven't." He then turned over to his grappling hook.

"By the way, Husky," Johnathan asked, "Why exactly do you get struck with awe whenever we come onto another ship? It's almost exactly the same reaction you get as when you see a husky on your home planet of Frost."

"Well, John, believe or not, but I actually have a mechanical degree from a college there. I'm so into machinery that I get carried away when I arrive on a relatively new ship, which is why I press every button I see." Husky replied.

"I mean, I know that, and I mean no offense, but just how exactly did you get that degree if you act like…like THIS all the time?" Johnathan asked, "Seriously, what is going on with you that makes you this hyperactive?"

"Well, I also get hyperactive when I'm nervous, I've noted that when I'd be about to go on a roller coaster for the first time I'd get very talkative and try to make a few jokes." Husky said, "And to be frank, if there's one thing I am right now, it's nervous. I'm nervous because…"

"Because…?" Johnathan eagerly listened for an answer.

"I'm nervous because I'm afraid I left something back on our ship, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Can you help me take inventory?" Husky asked, looking hopefully at his companion. Johnathan, upon hearing this, stumbled over from sheer shock. "Relax, I'm partially joking with that. I'm actually nervous because we've never been to this part of the frontier before, and all this unknown land could possibly kill us."

"Well, alright Husky, it's great to see you're finally starting to take this seriously." Johnathan recovered and wiped his angry expression off his face. "Do you need help with that inventory though? I'll help you if you help me, same as it's always been."

"Yeah man, I'll gladly help, then after this we can get some chow from the mess hall here, 'cause I'm hungry and I've heard the militia feeds its people rather well." Husky said.

They finished up their checklists and went out the door of their temporary abode to find the mess hall, which one of the friendly MCOR pilots guided them to after the duo completely lost their way aboard the ship. It should be noted they weren't the best at navigation. The MCS Spearhead then hurtled through space towards its target destination, where it will meet up with other MCOR ships and deploy their forces onto an IMC base located on a foreign planet known as Zephyr.


	2. Chapter 2: Pilot combat

The MCS _Spearhead_ eventually rendezvoused with other MCOR operated ships in the area surrounding Zephyr, far enough to stay out of the IMC's radar range. As such, the entire ship was ready to go into combat, which meant that the pilots began to load up onto their assigned dropships, with their spirits high, while their titans were loaded for the incoming combat drop. Due to the sheer amount of ships, Husky began to wonder why exactly they needed this many men for a simple IMC base, and then he put on his helmet. As soon as his helmet established a neural link with him, his visor and various other helmet sensors glowed with a familiar blue tone, similar to that of the MCOR pilots. He then got onto his dropship with Johnathan and two other MCOR pilots, who seemed to be looking at the two mercenaries.

"What, is there something wrong with my gear?" Johnathan said, "If so, tell me now please, I only have so little time to fix it before we get going on this op."

"Oh, it's nothing really, we're just not too used to working with mercenaries." One of the MCOR pilots said, continuing with "Usually it's either all MCOR or its all mercenaries, never both."

"Well, either way, as long as we don't shoot each other that's fine by me, what do you think Husky?" Johnathan said as he turned over to his companion, who was busy looking out the window as the ship lifted off from the hangar, continuing to gaze off into space for a short while after.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, if you don't shoot us we'll be fine, because you know, we won't have to worry about friendship issues with a bullet in the back, y'know, that sort of thing." He replied in a joking matter, however his attempt at humor was futile, as nobody laughed. "C'mon guys, not even a chuckle? Sheesh, tough crowd."

"Not gonna lie, that joke really sucked." One of the MCOR pilots said.

"Can't blame me for trying to lighten the mood! Anyways, do you guys ever wonder why we don't drop in our titans?" Husky said in return, making a rather good point. After he remembered the titans getting ready to drop, he then followed up with "Wait, don't answer that, I think I can see why."

"Alright Pilots," the dropship pilot said, then turning to the radio he forgot to turn off, "No, no, not you guys, I mean the titan pilots in my ship, yeah. Over." He then shut down his external communications radio and switched on his internal radio. "Alright, as I was saying, as we drop you guys off you guys are going to meet up and support other Militia forces that dropped longer before us, some of them are SRS too, so that'll help you guys a lot."

"Wait, Johnathan, I didn't know we were going to be backup for an already ongoing invasion, did I miss something after you knocked me out?" Husky asked.

Johnathan replied "No, it was when we first got the mission files, it was a fault on my part, since you were asleep on the time. Now would be a good time to mention that you have a pretty off sleeping schedule. Surprised the boss hasn-"

He was interrupted by Husky, who said "You mean to tell me that you forgot to tell me about this? All because I was asleep? Don't I tell you to keep a notebook or something?"

The dropship pilot then continued. "Alright pilots, we're going to warp soon, so hold onto something." At that moment, all four pilots aboard grabbed onto something, then the glow of the warp drive started to brighten. Then, there was a flash, and they were in a combat zone. The pilots then waited for the dropship MRVN to give the all clear to get out of the ship, and they wouldn't have to wait long. The MRVN gave off the signal as he opened the rear door of the dropship.

"Alright, let's go kick some IMC ass!" one of the MCOR pilots said, and they all rushed out of the rear of the drop ship. Husky let off a "yee haw" as he dropped into combat, which ended when he touched the ground, and then it was time to go to work. As the two MCOR pilots split off, giving their "goodbyes" in a way only pilots could understand, the two mercenaries rushed towards the scene of the battle, with their guns drawn. Since Husky had a grapple, he was able to go ahead and scout out some places for Johnathan to place his A-wall down early. He rounded the corner of one of the bases' buildings and came across a couple of MCOR grunts.

"Is that mercenary friendly?" one of them said, to which another replied "We would be dead already if he wasn't, he's on our side!" They then entered the building where other grunts from the same squad were holed up, with Husky following them.

"Alright guys, what's the sitrep?" Husky asked one of the grunts, "I need to know because my mercenary partner wouldn't tell me because I was asleep, you can just tell we're great mercenaries by how we act huh?" He said that last part sarcastically, but the grunts did have confused looks on their faces. The grunts were explaining in basic terms what was going on, until they heard gunfire in the next room, followed by a few swift punches and one of the grunts saying "Ah CRAP _ENEMY PILO-_ " He was interrupted by a punch, and his corpse colliding with the wall to the side of the doorway.

"Oh god, JACKSON!" one of the grunts said, "We have to get in there and help them!"

Husky held the grunt back, "You're already risking your lives enough, I'll handle this." He then proceeded with his RE45 drawn and his dataknife out, thinking to himself "Man, I probably look super cool to these guys. So, there's obviously a IMC pilot in there, and obviously I'm gonna kick their ass!" He rounded the corner and entered the room. The enemy pilot had already moved on, leaving the two corpses behind. Husky was disappointed, he really wanted to help the grunts out, while also making him look cool. Now he just stood there, dumbfounded. He let off a solid "God damn it" under his breath and returned to the room with the grunts. "He got away somehow." Husky said.

"Well yeah, we saw him go east, thanks for the thought though, but don't you guys have a job to be doing?" one of the grunts said.

"Yeah, I'll go do that now, see ya." Husky said, then catching his grapple onto one of the roofs of the adjacent buildings and flying away. He saw an enemy pilot shooting at MCOR grunts with a longbow DMR using one of the building's signs as a rest for his rifle. "Geez, do these people even have any awareness?" He then took out his data knife and let out a battle cry, which certainly startled the IMC pilot, who Husky then threw over his back, onto the ground, and stabbed in the face. Then, he looked at the DMR the poor guy dropped.

"Maybe I can use this for some long range kills?" he thought, picking up the rifle. He took aim at a few enemy pilots, but missed every shot, save for one grunt kill. "God damnit! I can't aim for shit!" he exclaimed, throwing the rifle. He went on the move again, towards all the action to a range he couldn't possibly miss at with his own rifle. Grappling onto one of the cranes overhead, he used it to swing into action. Noticing a squad of enemy grunts below, he pulled out his RE45 and started spraying down on them, killing almost all of them. He landed, turned around to clean up his act, and noticed Johnathan curb stomp the survivor.

"Dude, my kill!" Husky angrily exclaimed, pointing to himself.

"Gotta be quicker than that, Husky! Speed is life!" Johnathan retorted with a bit of a chuckle.

"Do you always say that when you steal my kills?" Husky said.

"Yeah, its good advice from an old Northstar pilot I met a while back, I suggest you act on it!" Johnathan said as he ran onto a wall and started to wall jump to get to higher ground, still chuckling. "Oh right, I don't want to forget to tell you this, but be careful over there, there's a few titans that way."

"Alright, I'll follow you since you have the A-Wall." Husky said, "You know what to do when we see them."

The duo then paired up and pushed on, watching for titans in between the buildings, they stopped when they saw an MCOR grunt running around the corner, only to be stopped by a swift punch from a large, robotic body.

"That's a titan for sure! Get onto the rooftops!" Husky shouted.

"Don't need to tell me that! I'll set up my A-Wall, you got your SMR loaded?" Johnathan asked.

Husky, staying close to Johnathan as they both climbed up, responded "Of course I do, see?" and he pulled it out. It was very clearly not loaded.

"That doesn't look loaded to me!" Johnathan said.

"Oh give me a break! I could've sworn I loaded it!" and with that outburst Husky grabbed one of the missile boxes from his ammo belt and put it on the gun, feeding the missiles into the gun and chambering it. "SMR loaded, for real this time!"

"I swear, someday your clumsiness is going to get us both killed!" Johnathan said, at this point they had both made it to the top of the building, where they could get a clear view of the enemy titans. Likewise, the enemy titans could see them and started to take a few potshots at them. Johnathan noted that the enemy titans were already really close to being destroyed, and that Husky's SMR should do it. He placed down his A-Wall and said "Husky! You're up!"

"Got it!" Husky said, taking place behind the A-wall with his SMR out. He unloaded all he had into the titans' critical spots, killing two and dooming the remaining one. Seeking a thrill, Husky grappled onto the enemy titan and launched full speed at it. The enemy titan tried throwing a punch at him, but Husky used his grapple to pull himself toward the ground—barely avoiding the punch. He then grappled onto the back of the titan and began to rodeo it, and as he pulled out the battery the enemy pilot ejected, taking him with it.

"Oh no you don't!" Husky said, one handing his R201 and taking aim at the enemy pilot, who was doing the same. However, the IMC pilot was slower, and as he readied his rifle Husky put a good lethal grouping into his center mass. "Gotta be quicker than that son, speed is life!" Husky exclaimed as he dropped with the soon to be corpse. He landed on the rooftop next to Johnathan.

"I see you've finally taken that advice eh?" Johnathan said, running onto the ground with Husky behind him.

"Might as well say it to sound cool, who was this Northstar pilot anyways?" Husky said, "He sounds like a cool guy, I'd like to meet 'em someday."

"I'll tell you later, now we need to-" Johnathan was interrupted by a loud crashing noise behind him. The two then slowly turned around to see an enemy Legion slowly taking the predator cannon off of his back. "Ah CRAP."

"RUN!" the duo said in perfect sync. They scattered just as the Legion started shooting, taking cover behind opposite buildings.

"I don't think we can run out of this one, is IO ready for combat?" Johnathan asked, looking at Husky.

"Yeah, I'm calling her in now." Husky said, walking out into the street in full view of the enemy Legion. Titans don't have any visible way of expressing emotion, but you can tell that the pilot inside of the Legion was confused. He just stood there, watching Husky walk into the middle of the open road without even his RE45 drawn, as if he wished to die. Johnathan was a bit worried, but he has seen Husky do this before.

"Oh boy, this is going to be good." Johnathan said under his breath.

"So, you want a fight huh?" Husky said to the Legion as if he were staring directly at the pilot in control of it. "Well then, so be it. Don't come crying to me when your ass is splattered across the pavement." The Legion had come to his senses, and was readying a power shot when suddenly another loud crashing noise came yet again from behind Husky. A dome shield surrounded him just before the enemy's power shot could fire. The noise came from IO-1825, Husky's titan.

"IO," Husky said, "Let's teach this guy why he picked the wrong side to be fighting on."

"Understood Pilot, all weapon systems are functional." IO-1825 said, and so Husky embarked his titan while the enemy Legion reloaded. "Shall we play _that_ music playlist?"

"Heh, you know me too well IO," Husky said, "Go ahead, we're going to need it."


	3. Chapter 3: The Ronin Duo

"Let's dance, tough guy!" Husky shouted over the speakers, "Hit it, IO!"

"Right away Husky, let's kick some ass." IO replied.

A song—Robot Rock by Daft Punk—began broadcasting over IO's external speakers. If you could see the look on the enemy Legion pilot's face, it'd probably be a look of utter confusion. Nonetheless, the Legion revved up his cannon and started to pour lead downrange, right at IO-1825. Husky, in the pilot seat, put up his vortex shield, and caught all the bullets that the Legion had generously given to them. The enemy titan was obviously experienced, and noticed this, so he put up his gun shield and waited, but it was already too late.

"Thanks for the ammo, but IO here doesn't use traditional cartridges!" Husky said, "So, I guess that means you'll just have to take them back!" He then released the vortex shield directly at the Legion's feet. There were so many bullets that the Legion stumbled from the impact. "Now's my chance!" Husky thought, and he rushed the enemy titan, firing IO's splitter rifle while the legion was trying to recover. He then used IO's body to topple the Legion completely over. The pilot inside activated his titan's self-destruct sequence, launching him out of the canopy as the titan was toppling over. This was a huge mistake on his part, as he was now the perfect target for IO.

"Enemy pilot has ejected, Husky," IO-1825 relayed to her pilot, "Suggest using laser shot to annihilate him."

"See IO, this is why you're my titan," Husky replied, "We have the same thoughts."

The enemy pilot was looking down at the location where he was landing, as he thought he was going to get away. However, his life was already forfeit, for when he turned around to look back at IO, he saw a horrifying sight. Husky was readying a laser shot, and when the pilot turned around that's when they knew when to strike.

"Adios ya scumbag." Husky said, firing the shot. The shot pierced the chest of the IMC pilot, turning him into a hazy red mist. He then turned to Johnathan, and said "Hey Johnathan, you busy eating popcorn or do you need a ride?"

"Heh, yeah I think I will need that ride. FJ is about ready, so don't expect me to rodeo for long." Johnathan said, climbing onto the back of IO-1825. They then pushed down the long corridor, crushing any enemy that dare stood in their way. They then came across two enemy titans, both of which were Ronin types.

"Ah great, two Ronins. I have enough troubles dealing with one, now there's two?" Husky said, then asking "Johnathan, FJ is ready right?"

"Sorry bud, he's just getting ready, you're gonna have to play it cautious." Johnathan said, hopping off of IO and into one of the buildings, where a quick firefight ensued. Then, one of the enemy titan's external speakers turned on, and a distinctly Japanese woman started to talk to Husky.

"So, you're that pilot that's been causing trouble for the IMC for a while, huh? Impressive considering you're dumb as hell" the enemy pilot said, "Oh man, if you use an Ion I'm going to enjoy this. There's a large price on your head, enough to line our wallet and our bank account for decades."

"Ah, so you're one of _those_ IMC pilots, eh?" Husky retorted, then realizing his external speakers weren't on. He then signaled the Ronin duo to give him a second, and turned on said speakers. "Sorry about that, my external comms weren't on. I'll repeat myself, so you're one of _those_ IMC pilots, eh?" He paused for a moment, observing if there were any other enemy titans in the area. "You can try to kill me, but know this, I'm not as dumb as they say I am."

The Ronin duo then looked at each other, they then put their arms over what would be their stomachs. If they had turned off their external radios, you wouldn't be able to tell they were both laughing, however since the one had left her speakers on it was easy to tell over the menacing laughter that they were.

"Did you even look behind you while you and your partner were coming down this corridor?" She said, which left Husky with a confused look on his face. He then turned around to look, and there was nothing there, causing him to turn back around with confidence.

"Hey, would you look at that, there's nothing the-" He was interrupted by a few shots from the woman, and the other Ronin phase dashing. "Ah shit, these guys got me good! Now, to deal with that phase dashed Ronin…" Husky thought to himself, and from pure reflex he dashed to the predicted spot where the enemy Ronin would come out of the phase world. However, he overshot the spot, leaving the Ronin coming out confused. However, this didn't last long, when he turned around and shot IO a couple of times before Husky could put up the shield.

"Outnumbered two-to-one, with some paint scratches to come with it," IO said. "I have two strategies for this situation Husky, would you like to hear them?"

"What're the options, IO?" Husky said to IO, as he was always willing to take her advice.

"Option one, we stay here and try to dash into their predicted phase re-entries," IO said, then adding "Or, option two, we high-tail it out of here and force them to come to us, using our laser tripwire to deal damage to them. Of course, since I already know you're thinking about combining the two, we could do that too."

"Ah, IO, how did you know?" Husky sarcastically asked, "Alright then, Operation Hightail Phase Wire is a go!"

"Operation Hightail Phase Wire? Really?" Johnathan said over his radio, "By the way, I'm calling in my titan now, but FJ's gonna take a while to get here, twice as long as usual. Hang tight out there." With that, Johnathan's radio went silent, and IO turned around and ran.

"You're not getting away THAT easily, that bounty is OURS!" the enemy pilot said over the radio. She and the other Ronin then gave chase to IO, and rounded the corner when all of a sudden FJ-3387 dropped on top of the lead titan. The Ronin in the back of the chase stopped dead in its tracks. You could tell the survivor was in shock, with her Ronin falling to its knees.

"Oh hey, looks I was wrong with that time estimate. Hey FJ!" Johnathan said, coming out of the building he was hiding in and waving to the titan. After this, he noticed the remains of the enemy Ronin underneath of FJ, and then continued with "Wow FJ, you're eager to get to work huh?"

"Correct Johnathan, you could say I got the drop on them," FJ replied. "Ready to transfer controls to pilot."

"You've always had a sense of humor FJ," Johnathan said as he clambered into FJ. He then walked towards Husky and IO. "So uh, why are you guys just standing there?"

"I don't know why Johnathan, but I think you've broken that Ronin pilot's will to fight." Husky said, pointing towards the kneeling Ronin. Johnathan then turned around and noticed the Ronin kneeling down where the other Ronin once was. "Well, this is awkward. I say we've done enough here, let's get on the move."

"Yeah, agreed." Johnathan said, turning back to Husky. The two then started to press forward into the direction of gunfire, when all of a sudden they heard the dashing of an enemy titan from behind them. Johnathan turned around and noticed the enemy Ronin from before coming towards them with his sword out. Husky didn't seem to care, as he kept walking forward.

"You bastards really think I'm just going to let you fucking walk away after what you just did? You assholes killed my brother, the last member of my family!" the pilot said, and she then let out a piercing battle cry over the external speakers that was sure to scare any normal pilots. It certainly startled Johnathan, but Husky didn't seem to pay any attention to it.

"Goddamnit Husky, what are you up to?" Johnathan thought to himself, the Ronin getting closer. "You'd better turn around or you're going to get stabbed!" It was already too late, the Ronin came quicker than expected and leveled his sword for a stabbing motion, lunging forward for the kill. At that moment, Husky turned around and shoved the sword aside, using the momentum the Ronin had gained from the lunge to somersault him. The titan was then left on the ground face up, and IO's leg on both the sword arm and pelvis. As a finishing move, Husky punched the hatch of the downed Stryder in an upwards motion so it would fly off, then picking up the pilot inside.

"Look, I know your pain, you want to get revenge on the people who just brutally murdered the last person you had in this world to call family, right in front of you," Husky said to the pilot, "But you are in no shape to fight right now, you are literally trying to punch my metal hand. You are so consumed with rage that you haven't even noticed that your own hands are starting to bleed." She then stopped and looked at her hands, they were indeed starting to bleed. "Ask yourself this," Husky continued, "Would your brother want you to risk your life for so little a cause?"

The female pilot then started crying. Her tears must have emotionally touched Husky, for he recoiled back a little bit when he heard it. He gently put her down on the ground where she then remained on all fours, and took a knee in his titan.

"Ah, I apologize for saying that after…" he said, "Never mind, as I was saying before you are in no shape to fight right now." At that moment, he could hear the footsteps of a titan approaching, and he looked around. "Ah shit, is it friendly, or not?" he thought. He was answered when he saw a Vanguard-class titan round the corner with a squad of MCOR grunts following him. Husky had learned about the Vanguard class from fellow mercenaries and knew that it was an SRS pilot. Definitely a friendly.

"Did you guys capture an IMC pilot or are you heartless mercenary freaks about to kill her, I can't tell," The SRS pilot said over the radio to the two mercs, "Nonetheless, we need you out there on the front lines, we've got this section of the base captured. Get going."

"Hey woah, slow down a minute there," Johnathan scoffed, "We're not going to kill her, she's had enough fighting for today. No need to call us 'heartless'," and paused for a moment, then turning to Husky and saying, "C'mon Husky, let's get out of here." Husky then slowly stood up, looking at the Vanguard class titan. He most likely had a reason for calling the two of them freaks, as he probably had a lot of his comrades die at the hands of IMC-employed ones. After all, most mercenaries in that day and age were indeed freaks. He then turned slowly around—then diverting his attention to the MCOR grunts surrounding the enemy pilot—and joined up with Johnathan heading to the front lines.

"So, you know why I spared her life, right?" Husky said.

"No, why? It wouldn't have to deal with that whole 'I know how you feel' thing you said back there right?" Johnathan replied.

"Unfortunately it does, now I don't think I've ever told you guys about what happened to my family back on Frost, but it was horrid," Husky paused, then continuing with another reason. "Plus, I could tell she was a freshie, as she was the first IMC pilot that I have come across to show any sign of… well any human emotion. Most of them—not including the ones that defected to the Militia—are just battle-hardened murderers."

"I hate to interrupt you Husky," IO said, "but there are enemy titans in the direction we're headed."

"Ah, thanks IO!" Husky said again in his usual upbeat tone, "Alright Johnathan, ready to kick some more titan ass and get paid?"

"Jesus Christ Husky," Johnathan thought, "What the hell happened to you, I wonder? You're so upbeat that nobody would never think that you had a troubled past." He then stopped thinking, smirked, and said "Well, you're damn right I am! Let's do this shit!"


	4. Chapter 4: Titans versus Titans

The two titans rounded another corner and came face to face with an enemy Tone titan, who dashed backwards and placed down a particle wall to act as temporary cover while simultaneously shooting a sonar pulse. This caused the duo to take cover, as they didn't have a chance to shoot through the one way wall, and also prevented them from flanking around for a while, as the Tone would know what was coming.

"Hey Johnathan, I'm gonna go around and see if I can get that enemy Tone out from behind cover, alright?" Husky said.

"Alright, I'll be waiting here," he replied, then talking to FJ "FJ, let's turn up the heat."

"Preparing canisters for deployment." FJ said.

Husky then broke cover to flank while Johnathan distracted the enemy Tone. When he turned the corner of the building he was caught in a tether trap.

"Where the hell did this trap come from?" he said, but it didn't take him long to figure out, as he took a hit from an enemy Northstar. "Goddamnit, I don't have time for this!" he thought, shooting the trap while ignoring the Northstar. He was dead-set on flanking the enemy Tone, but the enemy Northstar would not let him go anywhere and took a few well-placed shots at him.

"Critical damage, Husky," IO relayed to the pilot, "Recommend vortex shield for defenses."

"Say, IO, you know how Northstars usually take cover when you poke them with a stick? Well, we're going to give them something a little more than that," Husky said, preparing a laser shot. "Yeah, we're going to give them a long, stick of monochromatic light." With that last line he let the shot go, hitting the enemy Northstar's crit spot. Regardless, the Northstar did not budge, and kept shooting at Husky, forcing him to take cover. "Damnit, this Northstar isn't letting me budge." At that moment, he heard an explosion from the other side of the building.

"Hey Husky, I took care of that Tone. They made a rookie mistake and walked too far past their shield, and after a few well-placed canisters it's down." Johnathan said over the radio, "You busy?"

"Yeah, I'm just dealing with a pesky Northstar," Husky said "who is either hell bent on my destruction or a fool." He paused for a moment, reloading IO's splitter rifle and allowing for the energy to recharge. "Given the circumstances however, he is most likely a fool. He'll regret his decision to stay." He then rushed the enemy Northstar with his splitter rifle, keeping it trained on the crit spot of the Northstar. The Northstar responded with some more shots on IO in attempt to stop her, but tried to run when it realized both how futile this effort was and how much damage he took. However, Husky wouldn't allow this.

"You think you're going to get away that easily? You're wrong pal!" He yelled over his radio, making sure the enemy pilot could hear, continuing with "It ends here!" and let another laser shot loose. This time, it cut the leg of the running Northstar, causing it to fall flat on its face. Husky then slowly walked up to it while it was trying to crawl away and kicked it over so it laid stomach side up. Then the Northstar did something insanely unpredictable; it tried to use its thrusters to flee. Husky wouldn't allow this and grabbed the Northstar by the remaining leg, and then swung it around like a pendulum—the thrusters helping to keep the caught titan swinging. Then an enemy titan came into view from behind a building, another Tone.

Husky noticed this new foe, and knew immediately what to do. He yelled "Take your friend asshole, I'm done with him!" and let go of the enemy titan. The Northstar was sent flying towards the new foe with such force that it blew up both enemy titans. Husky—initially gazing in awe at the destruction he caused—then turned around and saw Johnathan watching from a distance, which made him ask one very important question. "Holy shit Johnathan, did you fucking see that?"

"Yeah, that was some fucking anime shit right there," Johnathan replied, also in awe, "say, didn't you modify your titan to be more agile? I knew it was going to increase the speed, but I didn't know you'd literally be able to throw a titan like that."

"Nah, it was some dumb Northstar pilot using his thrusters to try to get away, I just took advantage of it when the Tone came around." Husky said, "Say, isn't it weird that the only Militia titan we've come across down here was that snarky SRS one?"

"I'm sure they're busy fighting elsewhere. Besides, this is a pretty large base," Johnathan said. He then barely dodged a set of quad missiles and turned around, shooting his thermite launcher in the direction of the rockets. An enemy Ion caught it and threw it back, where it was then disintegrated by FJ's flame shield. There in front of them was a small three man squad of titans, consisting of a Brute, a Legion, and an Ion—who was presumably the commander as he was in the lead. This squad wasn't clad in the IMC's stock gray colors, so it was safe to assume that they were mercenaries.

"Ah, some mercenaries?" Husky said, "This should be good, we'll finally get a challenge." With that he reloaded his splitter rifle and turned to Johnathan, "Which one are you going to go after, I call dibs on the Ion."

"I'll probably take on the Brute, we should deal with the Legion first with a combined attack though." Johnathan said. The two opposing forces stood there, standing face to face with one another. Then, a crackling over the radio could be heard.

"So, you two are the reason why this facility is going to shit, eh?" the voice said. It was coming from the Ion, their leader. "You are also in an Ion I see," he paused, "Then it is an even fight. Tell me, are you prepared to leave this place in a casket?"

"I've been ready to do it before, I can certainly be ready to do it again," Husky responded "However, I know for sure that I'm not going to die here, but can you say the same?" When he finished the three opposing titans broke formation and started to fire at them. IO and FJ both responded in kind, taking cover and started to firing back, prioritizing the Legion. This Legion was significantly smarter than the last one they had went up against as he put his gun shield up behind a fence, covering his weakness. You could tell by this alone that this squad was much more experienced than the other ones they had come across that day. The two started to wonder where the other titans went when they both started to take damage from behind them.

It was a classic maneuver that worked especially well in that scenario. One titan would keep the enemy under suppressive fire, causing them to worry more about not getting shot. While this happened, two titans would then flank around the outside to go for the kill. You could tell that this leader was a tactician who knew his way around the battlefield.

Husky put up his vortex shield to block the incoming damage while keeping his ground, as he knew that if he were to walk backwards he'd most likely get destroyed by the enemy Legion. The enemy Ion kept up the pressure however, and punched Husky into the view of the Legion, who then shifted his aim towards Husky.

"Damnit, this guy's good, I'll give him that," Husky said, what he didn't realize was that his radio was on and the leader could hear him.

"What's a matter? Given up already?" The Ion said, pushing Husky even further into the view of the Legion, "Don't worry, we won't need to prepare a casket for you. Your titan shall do just fine in that aspect." Husky was too busy holding his vortex shield up to retort. He was holding it towards his enemies and grabbing all the bullets. The seemingly never ending rain of bullets paused for a moment, and that was when Husky realized that the Legion was reloading.

"Now's my chance!" Husky thought, dropping his vortex shield and then turning to cover farther back and running to it.

"You're not getting away that easily," the leader said, preparing a laser shot. Before he could let the shot go, he got hit by a thermite canister, which caused him to lose balance and miss. The canister was from Johnathan, who was focusing on the Ion even while resisting the Brute's attempt to push Johnathan out of cover. Johnathan then turned around towards the Brute and threw a thermite canister behind him.

"You really think your puny Stryder can push my grounded Ogre?" Johnathan said. The Brute then paused for a moment, realizing his mistake. Johnathan then threw a grab at the Brute, who instinctively dashed backwards to dodge. The Brute wasn't as formidable an opponent as the others, but he was smart. He noticed the thermite canister behind him and hovered to avoid it. This made him an easy target for Husky.

"Alright Johnathan, thanks for the help. Now it's time for me to settle the score," Husky said, shooting the Brute with a laser shot. It hit one of the thrusters, forcing the Brute to land and retreat, just narrowly missing the flames caused by Johnathan's thermite. The enemy Ion saw this, and turned back towards where Husky was, who was waiting for the moment to strike. He put the splitter rifle on the back and ran towards where Husky was taking cover, rounding the corner with a punch that sent Husky flying backwards. "Alright, if you want a fistfight, you'll get one." Husky said, recovering his footing with aid from the onboard gyroscope. He put away his splitter rifle and lunged and the hostile titan, the two grabbing each other as if they were sumo wrestlers.

They were trying to topple one another over, but the force from each titan was able to counter one another. Whenever one titan tried to knee, the other would respond with another knee to block it. It would all come down to the pilot's skill in using the abilities that their titans provided. Suddenly, a plasma rail hit the enemy Ion, catching it unaware and causing it to break the grip from Husky.

"Oh goddamnit! Is everybody going to interrupt me when I'm battling with another Ion?" the leader said.

"What the hell was that?" Husky thought. Both titans looked in the direction of the shot to see a MCOR-green Northstar charging another shot. The enemy Ion saw this too, and tried running away before getting shot again. Husky gave a thumbs up as thanks to the Northstar, who responded in kind with a thumbs up of its own. The enemy Legion started to fire again, providing covering fire while the enemy Ion went back to cover. The two were still in the fight, but the Brute had been gone for a while.

The Northstar then focused on getting shots off on the Legion, using its cluster missile to get the Legion to move positions. This worked, and the Legion went over to Johnathan's side, knowing full well who was over there. Upon seeing Johnathan, he started to fire directly at him. However, he did not notice the canister that was by his feet. Johnathan let loose a firewall in the direction of said canister, igniting it and the flammable gas it emitted to cause massive damage towards the Legion. Of course, the Legion took a lot of damage from this, but was able to avoid taking too much and stay in the fight. However, the enemy Ion came up from behind and told the Legion to retreat with him to regroup.

Seeing the retreating titans, Johnathan, Husky, and the MCOR Northstar tried to see what damage they could do further. They pursued the enemy titans while not firing so they could keep running. Suddenly, the leader stopped while the Legion kept on running, and turned around to stop his enemies in the middle of an open city plaza.

"So, you people are that desperate to die huh?" the leader said.

"Won't act so tough when I put a plasma rail right through your cockpit, ya bastard," the MCOR pilot retorted. Husky recognized this voice, and realized that he was one of the MCOR pilots on the dropship with them when they landed.

"Try it then," the Ion said, "but mark my words, it'll be the last thing you do."

"I don't like this, Ion's laser core works best in the middle of an open space," Husky thought, "and after all the combat there's a good chance that he'll have his core ready." Husky looked towards his allies, hoping they thought the same. It was apparent that Johnathan realized this, but the Northstar was still charging his railgun.

"Oh yeah? I disagree, take this!" he said, shooting the railgun at the enemy Ion. The Ion blocked it, but not with a vortex shield. He crossed his arms in an over the hatch, and this caused Husky to realize that his worries were correct.

"You fool," the enemy Ion said, "Now you all die!" With that last sentence, you could see four different lasers slowly come together from the center of the enemy Ion. Husky ran towards the Northstar and grabed him, taking him to cover. This move, and a sort of same-titan rivalry they both shared, caused him to be the primary target for the core. All of a sudden, a large laser shot forth from the enemy Ion, tracking IO with perfect precision while he and the other titan ran to cover. Johnathan could do nothing but hope that he made it safe and sound.

Thankfully, the two did make it to cover. However the current chassis IO-1825 was using had unfortunately been doomed, and would need to be replaced.

"Husky, I am in need of a new chassis. Recommend ejecting when safe." IO-1825 said.

"Don't worry IO, I know," Husky said, turning to the Northstar and saying "Well, that was a pretty ballsy move on your part, but you certainly pissed him off! Say, aren't you one of the MCOR pilots from the dropship?"

"Oh hey, I remember you, you're that odd merc!" the pilot flat out said, "I guess I should introduce myself huh? My name is Colin, but my MCOR buddies call me Seven."

"What an odd nickname," Husky said, "doesn't matter though, thanks for helping me out back there Seven." Husky peaked around the corner again, looking for the enemy Ion. However, the Ion had let that core loose and left, presumably to regroup with his squad. "Alright IO, I'll see you later," Husky said, looking down at the ejection lever and initiating the ejection sequence.

"Same here, but if it's a staring contest we'll be doing I'll win for sure." IO replied, and with that Husky pulled the ejection lever and destroyed the chassis IO was in. As he was ejecting, he grappled onto the rooftop of the building he was using as cover and stretched his body.

"Man, being in a titan for a while can really make you cramped. Alright guys, you get to go first, I'll be trailing you all in the buildings." Husky said to the other two. They then proceeded to the corner of the base, Husky using his hook to go effortlessly through other buildings while the two titans destroyed enemies on the battlefield.


End file.
